Cupping

[orthent]

I'm thinking of having a character get cupped for bronchitis. Google has provided plenty of information about how it's done (including some scary-looking photographs of the marks), but is there anyone here who has had cupping done for chest trouble who could tell me some particulars about how it actually feels--especially how and whether it

Comments

[erotic_kitty]

I have not had it done for chest trouble but I have had it done for migraines. One of the spots was on the chest for the migraine cure. It actually *did* seem to help a good bit. None of the marks left were long term, all of mine were gone within an hour. During that hour there was only redness. It mostly felt like pressure especially when felt in multiple spots at once. Cheap way to feel the basic idea for yourself, grab a snakebite kit for a couple bucks at Walmart. Not quite the same thing but close enough.

I still had a bit of a headache but the migraine portion of it was gone.

[orthent]

Cheap way to feel the basic idea for yourself, grab a snakebite kit for a couple bucks at Walmart. Not quite the same thing but close enough.

I might actually try that--thanks for the suggestion.

It's interesting to see that people have had it done for so many different reasons. My mother once told me that her mom used to do cupping ("vendouzas" was what she called it in Greek) for my grandfather when he would get a chest cold, so I assumed that was the main thing it was used for.

[oh_mumble]

I haven't had cupping for chest troubles but I have had it done to get rid of blood poisoning. If the cup is over loose skin then it hurts like a bitch, but elsewhere it's fine. It feels like strong, sucking pressure and is quite relaxing, like a static massage if that makes sense.

Cupping does genuinely work; I had it as a last-resort measure to get rid of the blood poisoning as antibiotics were doing nothing, and after suffering for bouts for five months the cupping cleared it out in one session.

[orthent]

Thank you for an interesting, precise description of the experience--and yes, despite the "woo-woo" tag, I suspect there's often a reason why some folk remedies remain in use as long as they do.

[oh_mumble]

No worries! I've been having 'alternative' health therapies since I was ten; what people forget is that these things were the norm before chemical medicine came along.

[imrihamun]

I've had it done for chest congestion by my acupuncturist. It's kind of weird and warm - like a glass straight from a dishwasher - and the way it sucks your skin up feels weird but not that painful, per se. Almost like bruising, which makes sense, because sensitive people will bruise. Underneath the warmed cups you can kind of feel your skin being sucked up, slowly. You can do this on your arm or leg by pulling a handful of skin, slowly but hard. Now hold it for twenty minutes.

I didn't look quite as bad as the guy in the wikipedia picture, but I did look like I'd been attacked by a giant squid for a few days. I have pretty sensitive skin; other people's skin reactions may vary.

Symptomatically, it's hard for me to separate it from the rest of the treatment I was getting. It does give you a pretty good endorphin/relaxation feeling, and frankly, being forced to lay head down for a while helps you cough out the phlegm anyway.

[orthent]

With nearly everyone else having had it done for other reasons, I'm grateful to hear of an instance in which it actually was used for a chest complaint. I was beginning to wonder if I'd misremembered my mom's story about her mother doing it for my grandfather.

It's a bit of a challenge coming up with an understanding of the way medicine is going to work in this 'verse. I'm curious--how did your acupuncturist combine cupping with the rest of her treatment protocol?

[imrihamun]

I'm just going to warn you, I don't feel like explaining how acupuncture works right now...but the internet can explain it pretty well

[orthent]

I'm sorry for not having got back to thank you for so long--it's good to have this extra info, since making medicine in this 'verse just like early-modern Western medicine seems boring. I'll be looking up acupuncture and Chinese traditional medicine, for sure; on the other hand, I think there will also have to be some apparent woo-woo, just for kicks, and the story will never really make clear whether it's medicine, magic, or a placebo effect making it work. There is quite a bit of actual magic in this 'verse, too, but the wizards don't have the real answers to everything--there's experimental magic going on, and even some quackery into the bargain.

[spinfrog]

I've had it done when I was very young, so I don't exactly know if it helped anything. But I still remember how it feels. Warm, dry, hard suction. It's not exactly cofortable, but it's not painful either. The best part was pulling them off afterwards. They came off with a soft pop, and it was a nicest feeling of relief not to have that weight/pressure on my skin.

[orthent]

It's interesting that the memory stayed with you that long! I had figured it would be rather painful--enough either to wake the character out of a sort of feverish daze, or to make its way into his dreams. I may have to revise that.

[orthent]

At least two of the sites that I checked out describe it as artificially creating congestion, which might work as a counter-irritant--or maybe it's just a form of acupressure that has generalized effects on the whole organism.